Michel de Montaigne quotes

Michel de Montaigne, a prominent French philosopher, was born in 1533. Known as the father of the essay, Montaigne's literary works have influenced generations. His masterpiece, "Essais," delves into a wide array of topics including self-reflection, skepticism, and human nature. Montaigne's innovative writing style revolutionized the genre, combining personal anecdotes, introspection, and philosophical pondering. This remarkable thinker contributed immensely to the Renaissance movement, leaving an indelible mark on Western literature and thought. Montaigne's enduring legacy continues to inspire scholars, writers, and readers alike, offering profound insights into the human condition and encouraging critical thinking for centuries to come. Uncover the captivating world of Michel de Montaigne and explore the timeless wisdom in his evergreen essays today.

No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately.

- Michel de Montaigne

When I play with my cat, how do I know that she is not playing with me rather than I with her?

- Michel de Montaigne

There is a sort of gratification in doing good which makes us rejoice in ourselves.

- Michel de Montaigne

The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them... Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not on your tale of years, but on your will.

- Michel de Montaigne

The worst of my actions or conditions seem not so ugly unto me as I find it both ugly and base not to dare to avouch for them.

- Michel de Montaigne

The finest souls are those that have the most variety and suppleness.

- Michel de Montaigne

The beautiful souls are they that are universal, open, and ready for all things.

- Michel de Montaigne

A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband.

- Michel de Montaigne

It is a monstrous thing that I will say, but I will say it all the same: I find in many things more restraint and order in my morals than in my opinions, and my lust less depraved than my reason.

- Michel de Montaigne

Even from their infancy we frame them to the sports of love: their instruction, behavior, attire, grace, learning and all their words azimuth only at love, respects only affection. Their nurses and their keepers imprint no other thing in them.

- Michel de Montaigne

In true education, anything that comes to our hand is as good as a book: the prank of a page- boy, the blunder of a servant, a bit of table talk - they are all part of the curriculum.

- Michel de Montaigne

It should be noted that children at play are not playing about; their games should be seen as their most serious-minded activity.

- Michel de Montaigne

I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better.

- Michel de Montaigne

He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.

- Michel de Montaigne

No pleasure has any savor for me without communication.

- Michel de Montaigne

My trade and art is to live.

- Michel de Montaigne

If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I.

- Michel de Montaigne

I set forth a humble and inglorious life; that does not matter. You can tie up all moral philosophy with a common and private life just as well as with a life of richer stuff. Each man bears the entire form of man's estate.

- Michel de Montaigne

Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do.

- Michel de Montaigne

A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.

- Michel de Montaigne

Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.

- Michel de Montaigne

Every man bears the whole stamp of the human condition.

- Michel de Montaigne

I write to keep from going mad from the contradictions I find among mankind - and to work some of those contradictions out for myself.

- Michel de Montaigne

The public weal requires that men should betray, and lie, and massacre.

- Michel de Montaigne

Let us not be ashamed to speak what we shame not to think.

- Michel de Montaigne

If a man urge me to tell wherefore I loved him, I feel it cannot be expressed but by answering: Because it was he, because it was myself.

- Michel de Montaigne

Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee.

- Michel de Montaigne

My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened.

- Michel de Montaigne

Every one rushes elsewhere and into the future, because no one wants to face one's own inner self.

- Michel de Montaigne

Ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head.

- Michel de Montaigne